Federal Reserve Communication and the Media

ABSTRACT

The effectiveness of monetary policy and political legitimacy of central banks depend on monetary policymakers ability to communicate through the media. The literature on monetary policy communication remains disconnected from relevant research in communication and media studies. This article uses a new database of Federal Reserve communication events merged with a database of 310,565 news stories to analyze the prominence and distribution of coverage of the Fed and the response of coverage to communication events.     

Academic Procrastination: The Perspective of University Counsellors

The purpose of this study was to investigate the antecedents and consequences of academic procrastination in students who frequent university counselling in regard to this issue. To undertake this, semi-structured interviews with 12 experienced university counsellors in German universities were conducted. A qualitative content analysis resulted in two category systems—antecedents and consequences. Whereas the antecedents were differentiated into nine categories and 30 themes, the consequences were differentiated into 10 categories and 20 themes. The findings indicated that the antecedents and consequences were largely a reflection of the students’ characteristics, their personal and learning situations, and the university environment. A layer model is discussed as a heuristic model for future research and for university counselling services.     

'Is-when' stories: Practical repertoires and theories about the practical

The issue of being 'practical' presents a continuous challenge, because student teachers' meanings for that word tend to be in sharp contrast to meanings that allow inquiry and are connected to personal and cultural histories. Instructor and student perspectives elucidate the struggle to find a compromise within this tension in the form of a particular narrative exercise assigned in a foundations course of a teacher-training programme. Investment of identity and performative language were required in order to construct collaboratively a narrative repertoire of techniques and strategies that was practical in a non-technical sense.     

Home Language and Literacy Environments and Early Literacy Trajectories of Low-Socioeconomic Status Chilean Children

This study used Latent Class Analysis to identify groups of children exposed to similar Home Language and Literacy Environments (HLLE) and explored whether belonging to a given HLLE group was related to children’s language and early literacy growth from prekindergarten to kindergarten. Participants were 1,425 Chilean mothers and their children (M_age = 52.52 months at baseline) from low-socioeconomic status households. Four HLLE groups were identified, which were associated with different trajectories of language and early literacy development. Children from groups whose mothers either read and talk about past events with them or teach them letters in addition to reading and talking about past events, showed higher relative vocabulary and letter knowledge. Implications for research and interventions are discussed.     

瑞典小学全国统考引起的学生考试焦虑研究

近年来瑞典教育在国际排名中呈现下降趋势。为此,瑞典已推出多项旨在提高教育质量的改革措施,最新的改革是在小学教育中实施全国统一考试。标准化考试的一个可能的不利因素是带给学生考试焦虑,而考试焦虑可能影响考试成绩。本研究选择了三年级的40名学生样本,运用现代化的标准测试来测量学生在数学和瑞典语两门学科的考试焦虑。结果表明,考试焦虑与瑞典语的成绩不佳有关;数学笔算成绩与考试焦虑有着显著的相关关系。     

Sammelrezension:Historische Bildungsforschung

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Heterogeneity in children at risk of math learning difficulties

This study recruited 428 Singaporean children at risk of math learning difficulties (MLD; M_age = 83.9 months, SD_age = 4.35 months; 41% female). Using a factor mixture model that considered both quantitative and qualitative differences in math ability, two qualitatively different groups were identified: one with generalized difficulties across different math skills and the other with more focal difficulties in arithmetic fluency. Reading, working memory capacity, and numeracy (number line estimation skills and numerical discrimination) uniquely explained group membership. Children within each group differed in the extent of difficulties they exhibited, with numeracy variables differentially contributing to math ability in each group. Findings speak against a dimensional view of MLD and underscore the conceptual limitations of using basic numeracy performance to profile learning difficulties.     

APPRAISING THE ETHOS OF EXPERIENTIAL NARRATIVES: KEY ASPECTS OF A METHODOLOGICAL CHALLENGE

In this essay, Carola Conle and Michael deBeyer describe their efforts to find a conceptual approach and methodology for the appraisal of the ethos of experiential narratives presented in a particular curriculum context. The language of “implied authorship,”“the patterning of desire,” and “friendships offered and received,” first introduced by Wayne Booth, is elaborated through data from narrative presentations given by local heroes to students. Appraisals seemed possible when a narrative could be placed on Booth’s “scales of friendship” and when the rational qualities of experiential narratives were considered. In addition, data needed to be available in which students’ experiential encounters with the narratives could be seen as occasions where, during such moments of encounter, feelings and desires were created, memories were activated, and events and actions in a narrative were vicariously experienced through those activated phenomena. The authors offer a potential framework for future appraisals.